As you may or may not know, fifty years ago David Bowie released his first record. To commemorate this life achievement, a new best-of album Nothing has Changed just has been released. Fifty years, that’s impressive! From the generation that pretty much invented rock, there are not many important characters left and I’m pretty sure over the years to come, this kind of 50-year albums will be few. Pick whatever name you want from the 90’s or 00’s, and look at if they are still there now…

Love the cover by the way

Anyway, not the point. The point is David Bowie is releasing a new album! Full with classics, mostly from the 70’s, Nothing has changed is the perfect occasion for the newest generation to get to know the music of a man who litteraly changed the face of rock with his avatar Ziggy Stardust. It’s the occasion to see (well, listen to) the evolution of his own style, how he chose to redefine himself over 5 decades to push the music forward. On the downside, from what I gathered on the vinyl tracklist, songs are not sorted chronologically… maybe a choice, maybe not, those who are not familiar with the evolution of Bowie’s style, it might be surprising to jump from a genre to another.

For those who already know the drill, a best-of album is always the occasion to get back into the music whitout looking for 10 different albums to listen to a medley. But let’s face the reality: if you’re like me, you don’t need this “new album”, you already have the vinyls or CDs and you already know Let’s Dance, Ziggy Stardust, Golden years…

But there is another way to “listen” to a best-of album of David Bowie! And this way, my fellow Bowie fan, is Sol Sunburst! Indeed, Sol Sunburst is a sci-fi novel loosely based on David Bowie’s songs from ’69 to ’74. A brand new way to rediscover songs you already know mixed into an original ecolo-rock story.

2169. War, climate change and animal extinctions will soon overwhelm an Earth ravaged by human greed and neglect. In a last desperate attempt to save endangered species from extinction, humans combine animal genes with human DNA to create animoids – a half-human, half-animal breed.

While the rest of the world is pinning its hopes on Major Tom and his colonisation of Mars, the Diamond Dogs – an animoid eco-terrorist group – is busy trying to save the planet from imminent destruction.

Meanwhile, Sol Sunburst, a rock star whose prophetic songs and charm have turned him into a new messiah, is predicting an Apocalypse in five years. But this is all too soon for Angela, a Diamond Dogs rookie who is on a mission to transform this condemned world…

In fact, this operation had become a necessity beacause of dramatic figures around the tiger. In the span of less than 100 years, the tiger population has declined by 97%. 97%! This is an absolutely colossal, terrible, alarming figure that takes its full value with another number: 3200. 3200, the estimated tigers still alive. And yet, we’re quite sure it’s remotely accurate; to be sure, they must be counted. Hence the different actions of the WWF to develop ways to count tigers in various countries (India, China, Russia …) and make sure – whatever the maddening number of tigers still alive it may remain – to double this number by 2022.

Why am I talking about this initiative? Because of Sol Sunburst. If you don’t know, my sci-fi novel is based on the assumption that animal species disappeared way too fastly and that humans began to introduce animal genes into human DNA to be exonarated from their extinction. An ultra-pessimistic vision of our future, but yet a vision that – in light of alarming figures posted daily by the WWF – takes the path of a reality. In my book, there is a tiger animoid, Mike Ronson, emblem of the total extinction of this species. So it seemed appropriate to relay today this particular action of the WWF.

Specifically, what can we do?

Talk about it!

Donate to WWF

Buy Sol Sunburst

Let me remind you that Sol Sunburst is committed to supporting the WWF and to annually donating a portion of its profits as donations to the WWF in order to help implement safeguard actions before it’s too late. So, buying my book (on Amazon or Kobo) is not just about reading an anticipation novel…

To learn more about the #DoubleTigers operation, I invite you to visit this WWF website (which has a link to directly make a donation). Feel free to spread the word around you, over all possible social networks, to educate as many people as possible. The ecological diversity of our planet really is at stake!

According to the police, the Diamond Dogs are no less than eco-terrorists who use terror and violence to prevent humanity from its true purpose: Mars and Space. Of course from their point of view, Diamond Dogs are merely eco-activists who struggle with propaganda and controled media to deliver their message: Mother Earth is worth saving.

Nobody knows who the leader of this underground organization is, but the Inspector Kornisoff has sworn to bring him or her to justice, along with every single one of his/her followers. The influence of the Diamond Dogs took a huge importance after the events and manifestations set after the death of the last panda, therefore increasing the pression on Kornisoff and the United Kingdoms government. They have discovered the Diamond Dogs’ treat is actually not only located in the UK but spreads worldwide as their actions tend to toughen.

If the arrested members were almost exclusively animoids up until 2170, it seems that more and more of the convicted are actually pure humans. The Inspector Kornisoff is thinking of a new leader, expanding their ranks within a the weakest minds of the great nations of the United Kingdoms.

The Diamond Dogs believe a renaissance for Earth, even if the planet is on the edge of destruction. They also believe in the Gaia Hypothesis developped by James Lovelock, and that someone can re-establish the neutral balance within 5 five years.

After WWIII, the world was left consumed and countries scattered. Wild life found inhospitable lands to live in and remaining species couldn’t survived in the environment they used to. To take a common analogy to the world we’re currently living in, just imagine a polar bear with no ice floe to walk on (which is already pretty much the case…).

As there would be no use in cloning species that could not survive on a post-WWIII Earth, scientists tried to merge genes of disappearing animals into human DNA. As it was the only way to prevent their genomes from total disappearance, in hope of finding another planet that, one day, could allow proper cloning of the animal DNA from animoid.

After years of experiences, failures, public outcries, the first animoid was born healthy, survived and lived almost like a real human. The year was 2031. Half-human, half-gorilla, this animoid – ironically named Kong – was no more than a lab rat and outlived only 32 years. Many more breeds from other species were created, refined up until the point the Homo Animalis became the intellectual equivalent of the Homo Sapiens and could live almost normally into society.

In 2099, the United Kingdoms Governement was the first one to recognize animoids as civilians and granted them – against public opinion – the same civil rights as any other humans. Many other countries did the same shortly after. By 2120, sustained by fertility programs, the animoids reached nearly 30% of the global population. An animoid benefits from the animal DNA by getting stronger senses or muscles. They can mate with pure human or other animoids, even from different species, and have babies either animoids or humans.

Until recently, only terrestrial mammals could be saved after their extinction. A breaktrought in 2173 allowed to create the first human/cetacean animoid. Scientifits are still looking for a way to merge insect DNA into humans…